Quote:
I would just be afraid that doctors or psychologists would laugh at me if I described the picking problem What if they say "You pick you're face? What a silly habit! Just stop it already, and everything will be fine. Run along now, girl!"
I don't know... I've never taken any mental-health-related medication whatsoever, so I'm pretty scared of such a big step. What if I become completely hooked? What if it makes me act really weird, or I become horribly emotional, or suddenly gain a lot of weight or something?
|
I'm in the US, so I know that things are different in Europe. Here's been my experience.
First, I would sincerely hope that a mental health professional would never be so dismissive. However, yes, I have encountered the dismissive attitude with general practitioner doctors. Both my psychologist and psychiatrist are well educated on OCD and anxiety issues and both had lots of great suggestions of ways to deal with it. For me, medication ended up being the best solution.
As far as meds - I refused to even think about them for years. I finally agreed to just go talk to the psychiatrist - no obligation to actually take anything. After talking with him, I decided to give it a try. If you're working with a competent p-doc, they will monitor you to make sure you don't become addicted. You can talk to a p-doc about what side effects you are and aren't willing to tolerate. Sometimes, it takes a bit of trial and error to find the right medication, but if you talk to the doc, and are willing to work with them, you'll find one you can tolerate that will work. For myself - I'm on a very low dose of medication, and I've had zero side effects. This was the 3rd med I tried. First one, the low dose didn't do anything and the next higher dose just put me to sleep. Second one made me really, really spacey. Third one - took the edge off my anxiety enough that I don't tend to feel the need to pick.